Mentoring is a trusting relationship between a young person and an older, more experienced non-parental figure who provides guidance, support, and encouragement to the mentee (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).

You can become a qualified mentor by registering here to become a mentor in the “Life Buddies” Scheme and by joining their training course here.

A Mentor plays an important role in mentoring relationship and have a profound impact on the growth and development of the young people. To build a trusting relationship between mentors and mentees, mentors will need to be committed with time and effort to be a role model of young people. Good mentors usually share the following basic attributes:
－ Passionate and committed in youth development and willing to spend time with young people
－ Respectful of differences
－ Caring and active listening
－ Discreet in words and behaviour
－ Empathy
－ Be open and flexible
－ Familiarize with mentoring and career planning

The Life Buddies website is a one-stop portal which provides information on mentoring including mentor recruitment and training, “Life Buddies” scheme, stories, manuals and studies.

About Life Buddies: Youth Education, Employment and Training Task Force under the Commission on Poverty (CoP) launched a career-focused mentoring scheme named “Life Buddies” in October 2015 to promote mentoring culture in the community. The Scheme aims at encouraging more active participation from business and members of the public to be mentors to give aspirations and advice to disadvantaged younger generation to help them to identify their life and career goals and make early preparation so as to enhance their social mobility.

Key elements of the Scheme include:

1. “Life Buddies” Mentoring Portal“Life Buddies” Mentoring Portal is a one-stop platform operated by Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) for interested individuals and volunteer teams of corporates to be mentors of senior forms of secondary students by providing recruitment, matching, training and referral services. Non-governmental organizations and schools organizing mentoring programmes could also recruit mentors through this platform.

2. Schools Visits
Government officials will visit secondary schools in 18 districts in Hong Kong to share with senior-form students their life stories and working experience so as to widen the horizons as well as develop the positive attitudes and resilience of younger generation.

3. Career-focused Mentoring Programme
In collaboration with non-governmental organizations, business enterprises will be invited to provide workplace skills training and internship opportunities for youth aged 15 or above equip them with necessary vocational knowledge and skills for employment, develop positive working attitude and career goals.

4. Evaluation Study
An evaluation study for the Scheme will be conducted to collating useful data and information in planning future efforts to promote youth mentoring for upward social mobility.

Don’t miss TAY THI, a star graduate of Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program, who will be in HK to share her amazing story on Wednesday 4th March at the HKU. Featured last year in one of Nick Kristof’s columns, in the New York Times, Tay was described as ‘one of the mightiest people I’ve met’, with ‘a towering presence’. ‘To me, she embodies such grit and selflessness that she’s the world’s college graduate of the year’. Free admission. To reserve your seat register at http://www.RtRHKMarch42015.eventbrite.com

About the charity: Room to Read envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education, reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world.

To achieve this goal, Room to Read focuses on two areas where they believe Room to Read can have the greatest impact: literacy and gender equality in education. Room to Read works in collaboration with communities and local governments across Asia and Africa to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond by building and stocking libraries, building bright ventilated classrooms, publishing books in the local language, training educators and providing one-on-one support to teachers, and supporting girls to stay in school by providing material support—such as school fees, clean uniforms or transportation, in addition to mentoring and life skills training to help girls succeed in the classroom and beyond.

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